St. Albans Psalter

St. Albans Psalter - Images likes songs
 

THE PINNACLE OF ROMANESQUE ART

The English variant of the Romanesque period is frequently considered as the most interesting period of Insular illumination. It was a period of transition and experimentation. The successful marriage of Byzantian and Ottonian influences with Anglo-Saxon elements produced a new, dramatic and expressive style in its own right.

THE MOST POPULAR TEXT OF THE MIDDLE AGES

During the Middle Ages, the Psalms belonged to the most widely known and most popular texts of Biblical literature, both in the private and in the ecclesiastical realms. They were recited daily by both clerics and the laity and even used in textbooks, for teaching children to read and write.
In addition to the 150 Latin Psalms (Gallican version), the calendar at the beginning and the litany and prayers at the end of the book, the St. Alban’s Psalter includes two further quite unusual texts: the Life of St. Alexius and a letter of Pope Gregory the Great in which he defends the variety of images as a teaching aid.
The Chanson of Alexius is among the earliest surviving texts of Old French Literature. It was written even before the Chanson de Roland and was added to the volume because of the similarity with the biography of the recipient of the sumptuous Psalter.

A DE LUXE MANUSCRIPT INTENDED FOR A LADY

The manuscript was presumably commissioned by Geoffrey de Gorham, abbot of St. Alban’s, for Christina of Markyate, a close friend of his, to be executed by the scriptorium of St. Alban’s abbey near London. Christina hailed from a wealthy Angelo-Saxon family and decided at a very early stage to dedicate her life to God – she fled from an arranged marriage and withdrew to a hermitage near Markyate. There she got to know Geoffrey who became her mentor and friend – a very special relationship to which we owe this unique Psalter manuscript.

46 RESPLENDENT MINIATURE PAGES

The remarkable miniature cycle was painted by the principal artist of the Psalter, known as the "Alexis Master." The exceptionally rich sequence of scenes at the opening of the book captivates with its bold use of opaque colours, depicting elegant, extraordinarily elongated figures, most often in profile. The artist skilfully models the delicate bodies using a sophisticated interplay of tonal shading and luminous highlights, following the Byzantine tradition. The backgrounds are structured in coloured blocks and feature intricate architectural elements. The influence of Ottonian art is unmistakable. Blue, green, and purple dominate each composition of this English pictorial cycle. Every miniature is enclosed within a gilded frame, itself adorned with sumptuous meandering bands of astonishing variety.
These 46 miniature pages stand as a testament to a masterful iconographic synthesis, blending Anglo-Saxon, Ottonian, and Byzantine artistic traditions while simultaneously exhibiting a creative impulse towards an independent artistic expression.

214 VIVDLY COLOURD PICTORIAL INITIALS

In the execution of the large-scale historiated initials, image and letter merge into a novel form of artistic composition. The artists—most likely three hands were involved in their creation—consistently adhered to this stylistic approach throughout the manuscript. Every psalm is introduced by a historiated initial, as are the subsequent canticles, creeds, litanies, and prayers. The connection between text and image reveals an extraordinary ingenuity, rendering the intangible vividly perceptible. The themes of the psalms and accompanying texts are consistently indicated by small rubricated headings, to which one of the figures within the initials often gestures in a strikingly expressive manner.

THE REUNIFICATION OF A SINGULAR ARTISTIC AND CULTURAL MONUMENT

For the first time, this facsimile edition reunites the manuscript from the Cathedral Library of Hildesheim’s Basilica of St. Godehard with the single surviving leaf preserved in the Schnütgen Museum.

A MILESTONE IN THE HISTORY OF MANUSCRIPT ILLUMINATION

The Albani Psalter ranks among the most significant and lavishly illuminated psalter manuscripts and is one of the most exquisite codices of English book painting.
It is not only the dramatic impact of the full-page miniatures that captivates the viewer; the expressive pictorial initials—often extending to half or full pages—eloquently convey the emergence of a new artistic language, shaped by the very resonance of the psalms.